NFOIC joins other nonprofits, newspapers in amicus brief

From NFOIC:

At issue are Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire’s claims of executive privilege to conceal records.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (August 27, 2012) – The National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) has joined media associations and good government groups in asking the Washington state Supreme Court to limit Gov. Gregoire’s authority to withhold documents from public scrutiny.

The case grew out of a lawsuit filed in April 2011 by the Olympia, Wash.-based Freedom Foundation, an NFOIC member organization in Washington state, over the governor’s claims of “executive privilege” as a basis for shielding records from disclosure.

[…]

A trial court judge ruled in the governor’s favor in June 2011, holding that executive privilege can act as an exemption to the Public Records Act and that a governor who asserts executive privilege can withhold records from the public. Freedom Foundation and its supporters are asking the state Supreme Court to overturn that ruling. The court agreed to hear the case last April.